musings of an adoptive mama of one little tot from China and another on the way.

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Mandarin Week-by-Week Challenge

Okay, so as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm trying to learn some words and phrases in Mandarin. This week's words are a little easier than last week's phrases -- I love you, mother, father, and yes (to permit).

I did a little surfing online and found this helpful tip regarding the tones. When saying the flat tone (1), it's like singing a note. For the rising tone (2), raise your eyebrows when saying the word. For the falling and rising tone (3), drop your chin and then raise your eyebrows when saying the word. For the falling tone (4), yes, you guessed, drop your chin. I found these tips to be helpful amid the butchering of the Chinese language that I had managed to do in one brief afternoon. I'm sure that I could make more progress if I enrolled in a class, and I plan to do that once our daughter is a little older. For now, I'm just braving it solo. Feel free to jump in and join me in the Chinese linguistic gymnastics!